But what really threw me was that just when I thought I understood the Japanese mindset of placing beauty on an equal footing with function, in the midst of some lovely, spiritual landscape, there were inexplicable and incongruous examples of modern life jutting up without any apparent apology to the surroundings.

I wondered if the Japanese had been infected by some spore from another planet, or had taken some cultural drug that made them incapable of even noticing them.

Heck, maybe they were beautiful to them and I was the one who couldn't see their beauty.